North Dakota Investment: 40% Yield
Bakken Shale Driving US Oil Production Growth
The oil boom in North Dakota has created worldwide attention. Production figures released by the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division (OGD) indicate that output in the state, primarily from the Bakken Shale, passed the half a million barrel per day (bpd) mark in November 2011. Analysts were eager to note that this put North Dakota ahead of OPEC member Ecuador, and the milestone is also one that confirms an upturn in fortunes for the US oil industry over the last few years.
His overalls caked in mud, roughneck Brian Waldner wrestles with pipe as North Dakota’s new horizon unfolds around him.
North Dakota, once a sleepy backwater of the petroleum industry, this year surpassed Alaska as the number two oil producer in the United States. The gush of North Dakota crude has helped lift U.S. oil production to its highest level in 14 years, and has the United States on track to regain its spot as the world’s top energy producer within five years. (Related: “U.S. to Overtake Saudi Arabia, Russia as World’s Top Energy Producer“)
It’s all due to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a new combination of old technologies that has yielded astounding results. Using high-pressure water, sand, and chemicals, the energy industry has been able to force abundant oil and natural gas production from underground shale formations around the United States.
Workers from all corners of the United States are coming to Williston to secure stable well paid jobs of $80,000 – $100,000 + per annum. A housing solution has been designed and produced in the form of the Mini Motel fully furnished with beds, sofa, table, shower, wash basin, toilet, TV, microwave and WiFi connectivity. Occupants will get all the home comforts of a full size hotel/motel room. Demand has driven room rates up to $125 per night for single occupancy.
For more details, visit our North Dakota Real Estate investment page.
Villages of low-slung modular buildings, like these seen outside Williston this year, have sprung up seemingly overnight in North Dakota. Thousands of workers have flocked to the state’s thriving oil patch, reversing years of declining population in many of its western counties. In fact, the influx has overwhelmed available housing in the sparsely settled area. The industry has been able to use modular buildings to set up “man camps” near the drilling sites. With predictions for another 30,000 oil workers by 2020, the housing shortage continues to bedevil roughnecks and drillers, as well as highway workers and even teachers who can’t afford to move into the area.
Related Links:
Pictures: Bakken Shale Oil Boom Transforms North Dakota (National Geographic)
New York Times: State With Plenty of Jobs but Few Places to Live
